The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-05-29
Card from Hon. w. d. FouIke.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis sentinel
You reiterate in a paragraph this morning the
statement that l vent to Fortress Monroe TO
avoid being examined by the Senate committee.
You know perfectly well that this is not true;
that sought out that committee when they were
first appointed and appeared before them upon
more than one occasion. at which they had the
opportunity to ask me any questions they de-
sired, which, however, they did not see fl to do.
You know perfectly we'll that my absence
the result of sickness and death in my own fam
ily and that the committee were informed be-
forehand both of the cause Of it and when I
would be obliged 20 leave.
can realize that it is more discreet for you to
confne yourself to missta:ements in regard to
the members Of our association than to attempt
to discuss either tsszpanagement or the hospital
or the report of the Senate committees COM
mittee appointed bya personal beneficiary of the
present corrupt system, and in pursuance of a
prophesy made by him the floor of the SEN
ate. that they would exonerate the hospital ad-
ministration; COMMITTEES composed in part OF
other benefciaries of asylum spois; committee
which corruptly employed the defendants at
torney as their own. It is prudent IN you to
throw the merciful mantle of your
silence their doings, for you
know perfectly well that the committee
could not convince even the Democratic Governor
of Indiana that Harrison aud Gapen were fit
men for reappoin tment You will not venture
to publish q comparison of the findings of the
committee with the evidence upon which it is
based You perfectly aware that the COM
mi.tee made pretended findings favorable to the
board in regard to facts of which there was not
one particle of proof; that they wholly omitted
to mention cases where grave charges we're
proved by uncontradictsd evidence that they
made statements directly in the face of the
testimony, and that they knowingly rnisstated
even the charges made by association. You
will not venture to discuss the absence of Gapen
for q whole year in Arkansas. where he drew his
salary with regularity for services which were
never performed; the removal of moro than six
hundred employ es in less tnan four years; the
relations of DIR. Harrison with John E. Sullivan
the furnisher of rancid and macotty butter;
the Mellen discount received by Gapen and not
accounted for; the proved intoxication OF Dr.
Harrison the streets of Lebanon: the incom-
potency and cruelties of the political workers"
employed at the hospital; the hogs killed for the
tables from the dying drove: the defective sup
plies Systematically accepted over Dr. Fletcher's
objection.
Should you be willing to consider any of these
matters can furnish you with ample material
You have not even ventured to discuss the pro-
priety of the change made by the Governor of
the State whereby Harrison and Gapen have
been superseded. Have you opinion in
spect to the wisdom of the Governors policyR
You speak of the Senate committee pulveriz-
ing Messrs. Morton and Rowland The troubls
is that the ''pulverzing" was all the other way.
the trustees who have been displaced know to
their sorrow, aud it has been largely through
your own hystercal defense that the guilt Of
these men has been the more apparent. For
my own part, l do not regret that with
that delicate generosity which is part of your
nature. you indulge in weak attempts at merri-
ment at absence which you well know was
the result of severe domesti affection 1t is
Ssubiect of conRrstulation to be the object of
the abuse of an organ perfectly attuned to
the harmonies of corruption-the missing dis
counts. che brutal attendants. the forgeries of
tally-sheets, and the grand juries which refuse
to indict the guilty. The mode Of appointment
and the conduct of the Senate COMMITTEES, your
own TRADES, the employment of under
charge of election crimes the fttest instru-
ment for the defense of the present board.
al. equally grateful to u.s. because they show
that against our reform there stands in array
the natural association of unclean things.
VIM. D. FoULKE.